


Pink

by Jokess



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Season 4 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jokess/pseuds/Jokess
Summary: On Altea pink is the color of mourning





	Pink

Black was the color of mourning for most of the Paladins, and yet it still seemed more fitting they all dress in pink. None would say so out loud, but the reason was because Voltron had brought them all together and now it had also torn them apart, and as Allura was the heart of Voltron it only made sense she and her people bear the weight of what had been done.Finally, no one quite had it in them to wear red in honor of the one they’d lost.

Keith had been so brave when he flew into the shield, so ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good. How could he have known that Lotor was just seconds away with a weapon capable of destroying the shield? How could he have known his own ship wasn’t enough? He couldn’t of course, and yet he’d flown into death without even flinching. And yet, somehow, no one thought he’d never come out the other side. Not even Matt who realized what he was doing long before the others.

Matt was besides himself with grief. He blamed himself for Keith’s death, thinking and saying that HE should have been the one to fly into the ship. Or, at least that he should have thought of some other plan. He, and Pidge of course, were the geniuses of the group. But what use was that genius if it failed at the most important time, the time he needed it most? He’d saved countless lives for the rebellion and been saved in return, so why was it that he wasn’t allowed to save one more? He didn’t know the answer and that hurt him more than even Keith’s death.

He knew how messed up this was, that he should have mourned Keith and not his inability to cope. But he did and he couldn’t explain it. Maybe in another time or another place or when life made sense again. But probably not that last one since he doubted life would ever make sense again. And to think, he was the newest member of the team. He could hardly imagine how the others must be suffering. Of course he’d tried asking his sister, but she’d been silent and sullen for days.

Pidge had cried when she lost her brother, but she couldn’t cry for Keith. She wanted to, but all she could manage was anger. Anger that Voltron couldn’t get there in time, anger that she hadn’t thought of a better plan and, most of all, anger that Keith had done something so stupid as to sacrifice himself for nothing. If only he’d asked her what his ship could do. Because then she could have told him it COULD NOT penetrate that shield. It was too small and not near powerful enough. He should have known that. And, if he had known, he should have cared enough about his own life to not make a dangerous and stupid gamble.

...Okay, so maybe she was also mad that she wasn’t sure she’d have done the same thing in Keith’s place. Or maybe she was just mad that he was gone for good. All she could really say for sure was that she, and everyone else, were furious at Lance.

He’d been joking, making light of a terrible situation as he tended to do. Still, seconds after saying, “Well, at least we know who will pilot the Black Lion now.” Lance had known he’d messed up big time. The look of death from Pidge alone was chilling enough and, to him, she usually couldn’t muster up enough hate to swat a mosquito. Add that look another four times over and he was honestly surprised he wasn’t the next to die. (How he didn’t add this tidbit into the conversation was anyone’s guess,)

The surprise didn’t last. Soon it was overcome with guilt and regret. Guilt that he’d given Keith such a hard time, regret that he was pretty certain his last words hadn’t been kind ones. Oh if only he could go back and change time. Stupid space, what use was its advanced technology if it couldn’t conjure up just one dumb time machine? Still, as he knew, going back wouldn’t have changed anything because given another chance he wouldn’t have changed a thing he had done. Sure it all hadn’t been great, and some of it had been downright mean, but Keith was his rival. They got along because they competed and, at the end of they day, he respected Keith more than anything. Keith knew that too, or had known it back when he hadn’t been so much space dust.

It was this final thought that, finally, put Lance to tears.

On the contrary, Hunk had never stopped crying. Keith’s death hurt from the depths of his heart into his very soul and even his stomach. He’d never thought he’d not be hungry, but when all the alien goo he looked at looked like Keith he couldn’t muster up much of an appetite. All the salt from his tears certainly didn’t help matters either. He couldn’t stop crying though. He tried and tried, but every time he got close he remembered something Keith had said or done. Or worse, he remembered how the team was forever changed and broken beyond repair. He’d loved his team, Voltron so much and now they were hurting in ways he could all too well imagine. After all all he had to do was look at Shiro to see the agony they all were going through.

To say Shiro took Keith’s death the hardest wasn’t an understatement. They’d been close at the Academy and he really had looked to Keith as a great leader and influence. He’d trusted and respected him as a comrade and believed him in him even when he couldn’t believe in himself. But that wasn’t why he was so hurt, he was hurt because Keith had not trusted him to come through when he needed it. And, sure, Keith was an independent sort, but all the other members would have trusted him to come through. They’d said that time and time again, HELL Keith had said that every time he’d brought up not being fit to be the leader. So maybe the truth was he didn’t trust anyone, but Shiro couldn’t help to wish he had because then he still might be alive to pilot Black like he was meant to. After all he, Shiro, certainly couldn’t be meant to fly her because no leader worth their salt let someone in their ranks die. He’d known that long before Black had stopped responding to him again and nothing Allura said to the contrary could change his mind.

Allura, as was fitting for someone thought of as the heart of Voltron, had never given up hope. She knew Keith was dead, but that didn’t stop her from trying to rally up morale or from smiling when no one else could. “It’s the least I can do.” She told herself, but what she could never admit was that she hadn’t accepted Keith’s death. She acted like it, but in truth she was still expecting to turn around and see him sullenly mulling over whatever happened to be troubling. And, sometimes, she could still hear his voice calling out to her. Something like that hadn’t happened to her since she’d woken up in the castle to find almost her whole race gone. There was a difference now though, and that was she had nobody to mourn with, not even Coran.

Coran was at a loss for how to feel. The death hurt, but what hurt more was the loss of the team. He’d never seen a group of people so unhappy or out of sorts. Never seen how people who had once been so close could just drift past one another without so much as a glance of recognition. It was unnerving to see honestly, and the worst part was no one seemed to notice. So, for now, he was certain it was for the best that no one see Keith’s last words; his final transmission.

For his part, Keith was content. For ages he’d been wondering what his place was in the universe since the Blade of Mamora didn’t need him and neither did Voltron. For ages he hadn’t had an answer to that question and he had searched for it until he found it staring back at him in the form of Haggar’s shield: He had no place and the world was better off with his sacrifice than with him. That was why his final transmission was:: “I have no place and with me gone everyone will move on.”

Sad to say his final ‘wish’ never came true.

**Author's Note:**

> My first Voltron fic, YAY! I didn't think it'd be a fic dealing with a slight AU where Keith actually dies, but at the same time I'm not surprised.
> 
> Also, an alternate title for this fic is "Stages" or "Five Stages" since five of the characters fit the stages of grief. Matt is bargaining, Pidge is anger, Lance is acceptance, Hunk is depression, Shiro is grief and Allura is denial. Coran doesn't really have a specific stage, he's more the whole person/body feeling like '"Why do I feel like this and what can I do about it?"


End file.
